A friend of mine rescued a misused pitbull once upon a time. She was a beautiful, if timid, animal. Despite her issues he loved her fiercely and did everything he could to make her life wonderful. Then the day she got lost by jumping out of a second floor window. Did she see a squirrel, hear someone whistle like her 'dad' below, or was itr something else entirely? No one could have expected that suddenly, after years of never exhibiting behaviour like this that she would disappear this way. No one will ever know the whole story, there are only a few paw prints across bed and pillow leading out the (high up) window to give evidence.
As you can imagine, my friend was devestated. In fact devestated does not even begin to describe it. He searched and posted everywhere. Physical posters in the area, internet classifieds with pictures of his beloved, calls and reports to any and all of the city shelters including the SPCA and Berger Blanc. She was never found and never returned. My friend only hopes that she was found by a loving individual who didn't see any of the ads and refused to contact shelters for fear of how they treat pitbulls. Life was bleak for what seemed like a very long while. One day, however, a call came from one of the main shelters saying they thought they had found her. Same colour, general size and description, right down to the chipped canine tooth. So my friend, heart soaring, went to check it out. Alas it was not his dear pet he found skinny and scared, covered in scrapes and sores, but an almost identical dog huddled in a cage desperate for some loving contact. My friend was told that this shelter held all found dogs for 5 days, then if unclaimed sent them into adoption... except pitbulls. They apparently did not have the 'right' to place pitbulls for adoption. They have the honour of being sent directly for euthanasia. Torn up by the idea of this sweet dog who looked so much like his lost pet being euthanised for no reason other than she had the distinction of looking like a pitbull he told them that yes, this was his lost pet. We went together to pick her up. I drove and he held her. She was beyond grateful to be walking out of that place, it was a sif she knew instantly that he was her saviour. She pooped and peed in the car, (she had obviously never been in a car as a passenger), and seemed shocked when we reassured her instead of got mad. She kept giving kisses and had her front paws around my friends waist where they stayed the entire 40 minute drive home. I counselled my friend to walk her for about an hour when he just got home and to then feed her white rice he had touched with his hands to help aquaint her with her new home/owner and ease her diarrhea. Later that night three of us bathed her, cleaned her ears, clipped her nails, (more like talons that had never been clipped before), and assessed her wounds. We fed her some very good grain free wet food , fed her omega 3 fish oil pills, gave her homeopathy for diarrhea and treated her with delicious home made DREAMER & Cheeks cookies and ChewEase. By the end of it she was like a new dog with a more reddish coat than we first thought. She started 'smiling' and bouncing around playfully. The transformation was incredible. It has been the better part of a week and each day sees more improvement. The scrapes and sores are healing, a red red eye has healed back to normal colour and fur has started regrowing on the patches where it was missing. She eats well and will soon put on all the weight she is missing. Her spirit bounding, her love for my friend, her knight in shining armour, overflowing. I go to visit and she climbs into my lap to be petted and loved, gazing up at me and offering yet more kisses. She truly is a kind soul who, even after what was obviously torture at the hands of a human being, loves us unreservedly and asks only some love, (and food), in return. This, an animal that did not have the 'right' to be given even the chance of adoption due to human fear and stereotyping. A stigma attached to her 'breed', (pitbull is not a recognized breed but a slang term currently applied to several breeds of dog), serving to sign her death sentence. Yet, it is she who could teach us a lesson in kindness and compassion! What if my friend had not rescued her? What if we allowed her to die a senseless and lonely death by human hands? What of all the others who are not so lucky? What of those who find no saviour? When will we realize, as a whole, that these animals, that animals, are not products or possessions to be treated however we want, to be 'bred' without discretion, and to be abandonned when they have outgrown what purpose we wanted them for? The dog, now aptly called Angel, is a beautiful beige pitbull who is growing more beautiful every day. The physical indications of her neglect/abuse are fading daily and the emotional impact fades even faster in the face of such unconditional love, but we as the humans who helped save her will not so soon or easily soon forget what was done to her by our own kind. She was found emaciated, her neck raw from trying to get away from whatever rope or chain held her. Her bum, heels and feet scraped raw with sores quite obviously caused by concrete burns. Her teats large she must not too long ago have weaned a litter of puppies. I have to believe that the people at the shelter realized that we were not her owners, but that we did not want her to die. I have to believe they did not wnat to see such a gentle creature come to an end like that. In any case I thank them for their part in her rescue and hope that we can begin to practice the kind of compassion that Angel herself has demonstrated.
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